2018 Retirement Industry Conference

Building Opportunities for the Future

Jointly hosted by the LIMRA LOMA Secure Retirement Institute and the Society of Actuaries

Who Attends

Professionals from all areas of the retirement industry, including those involved in the product development, marketing, and distribution of individual annuity and retirement income products, and defined contribution and defined benefit retirement plans.

Highlights

This important conference covers the latest strategic, sales, product, operations and administration, marketing and distribution trends as well as regulatory issues that impact the retirement industry. Conference partners, the LIMRA LOMA Secure Retirement Institute and the Society of Actuaries, deliver highly relevant and present-day focused content. Come, participate, and network with your peers.

Conferment

The FSRI Inaugural Class will be officially conferred at the 2018 Retirement Industry Conference in Chicago, Illinois, April 11–13, 2018! Details will be sent to all ASRI and FSRI designees. We will also recognize and confer any ASRI/FSRI designees attending the LOMA Annual Conference as part of our conferment ceremony for all LOMA designations.

FSRI designees are eligible for a 20% discount on their
registration fee. Please refer to your FSRI designee congratulatory email or
contact education@loma.org for the
PROMO Code needed to receive this discount.

Shlomo Benartzi, Ph.D.

Professor and Co-Chair, Behavioral Decision-Making Group

UCLA Anderson School of Management

Shlomo Benartzi is a behavioral economist, interested in
combining the insights of psychology and economics to solve big societal
problems. Along with Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler of the University of
Chicago, he pioneered the Save More Tomorrow™ program (SMarT), a behavioral
prescription designed to help employees increase their savings rates gradually
over time. The program has also been incorporated in the Pension Protection Act
of 2006, and has helped approximately 15 million Americans boost their
retirement savings. Professor Benartzi’s current focus is creating digital nudges that combine the scale of
technology with tested behavioral insights to help people make smarter
decisions in the online world. He currently serves as a senior academic
advisor for the Voya Institute for Behavioral Finance Innovation.

Maria Ferrante-Schepis

President

Maddock Douglas, Inc.

After more than 20 years as an executive in the insurance and financial services industry, Maria Ferrante-Schepis joined Maddock Douglas in 2010 to focus on the opportunities for innovation in those industries. Her mission is to enable like-minded executives to proactively shape their own change, versus having it shaped for them. Ferrante-Schepis has helped clients in all the major lines of insurance, retirement and investments address challenges relative to category disruption. She co-authored the book, Flirting with the Uninterested; Innovating in a ‘Sold Not Bought’ Category, and, in 2015, was named one of the 20 most creative people in insurance by The National Underwriter magazine.

Tom Crawford

Senior Managing Director, Strategic Communications

FTI Consulting

As a senior member of the Public Affairs practice, Tom Crawford advises boards of directors, executive teams, and senior decision-makers on public-policy issues that pose opportunities and challenges to their organizations' enterprise values. He has worked on every budget reconciliation and tax-measure package considered by Congress in the past two decades. Prior to FTI Consulting, Crawford was a founding partner of government-affairs and lobbying firm, C2 Group. There he oversaw the firm’s growth and development into a “Top 20” independent lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. As a respected public-policy expert, Crawford is also a member of The Tax Council, and chairman of the board of directors at Harvard University’s Center on Media and Child Health.

FSRI
DESIGNEE REGISTRATIONAll FSRI
designees are eligible for a 20% discount on their registration fee. Please
refer to your FSRI designee congratulatory email or contact education@loma.org for the PROMO Code
needed to receive this discount.

Refund PolicyAll cancellations and refund requests must be received in writing. These requests carry a $100.00 U.S. administrative charge. Full refunds minus the administrative fee will be granted on written requests received no later than ten business days before the meeting. No refunds will be granted if the request is received within ten business days of the meeting. If for any reason a meeting is cancelled, Conference Organizers will refund the total registration fee. However, Conference Organizers will not be responsible for any travel, hotel accommodations or other costs incurred. Cancellation requests should be submitted in writing to meetings@loma.org.

Group DiscountIf five (5) or more individual employees from the same member company register for this meeting, each individual registrant may take advantage of a group registration discount of $100 by entering the promo code GROUP100. Individuals using this registration option must register at the full conference registration fee. Presenter registrations and individuals utilizing any other discounts do not qualify towards the required five registrant per company minimum. Please note that if a registrant's company does not ultimately meet the aforementioned eligibility criteria (e.g. there are fewer than five registrants from a company who paid the qualifying full conference fee), registrants will receive a notice of any balance due based on the difference between the regular applicable rate and the group discounted rate.

Disruption is among today's most misused buzzwords. People frequently use it to describe innovations regardless of their impact, as well as anything that presents even a mild challenge to an organization. But disruption is more than that. Disruptors can severely impact revenue or have a crippling effect on a business or an entire industry. Join this thought-provoking interactive discussion to learn what forces truly pose the greatest disruptive threats to the retirement industry and what you can do to not only guard against them, but go on the offensive and even be the disruptor.

Blockchain technology is getting a lot of press lately. Many financial institutions are currently evaluating the technology to determine how they can use it to improve cybersecurity, automation, and customer service, and some are piloting blockchain solutions. This session, designed for "non-technical" people, will provide a basic understanding of blockchain technology, discuss current and future applications, and explain challenges and opportunities for the retirement industry.

The Future of Financial Planning: Personalized Finance in the Digital World

Shlomo Benartzi, Ph.D.

Professor and Co-Chair, Behavioral Decision-Making Group

UCLA Anderson School of Management

(1.0 EA Non-Core Credit Hours)Acclaimed behavioral economist Shlomo Benartzi will reveal how we can apply the latest behavioral economics research to important financial decisions. After briefly summarizing the lessons of Save More Tomorrow, the nudge he developed with Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler that has boosted the savings rates of more than 15 million Americans, Benartzi will shift to the future, looking at how new digital technologies can transform financial planning. In particular, he’ll outline a set of new "personalized finance" principles that can measure the biases and preferences that shape our financial lives. Thanks to companies like Amazon and Netflix, consumers have come to expect a high degree of personalization. It’s time for the financial industry to catch up and offer personalized solutions.

(1.2 EA Non-Core Credit Hours)For most Americans, retirement savings happens in the workplace. Plan sponsors are uniquely positioned to understand and influence the savings behavior of millions of U.S. workers. Learn about the issues and trends that affect plans sponsors as they navigate the challenges of today’s employee benefit programs. A panel of plan sponsors will share their perspectives on topics like financial well-being, plan design, HSAs, retirement income, and employee communication. Learn what sponsors wish you knew.

The individual annuity market has experienced significant change in the past few years, creating a cloud of uncertainty in the future. Amidst all of this change, this session will look through the lens of the consumer, providing a strategic viewpoint into who is buying annuities, and who is not.

(1.5 EA Non-Core Credit Hours)Hear key results of two related research studies implemented for the Society of Actuaries. The 2017 SOA Retirement Risk Survey, ninth in the biennial series, focused on key financial concerns, housing issues, financial wellness and long-term care risk. The Late in Life Study was comprised of 62 in-depth interviews of people ages 85 and over on how they handle their finances and their perception of their financial situation. This research provides deep insights into how people assess and deal with financial risks and financially manage through retirement.

(1.5 EA Non-Core Credit Hours)“Financial Wellness”…it’s something everyone’s talking about; but, on many levels, it remains an elusive concept. This session will shed light on what financial wellness is, what it means for employers and individuals, and what providers and other stakeholders are doing to promote it.

This session will focus on how retirement industry experience in the product development/actuarial world can be successfully applied in the sales and marketing world. the two speakers both have expertise in both environments.

This luncheon and interactive session will focus on current retirement topics impacting the Canadian market and is open to all attendees interested in Canadian-specific issues. Pre-registration is required.

Experts will discuss the issues and trends seen in the annuity market from a product development perspective. We will discuss new annuity product designs and their financial treatment. Join us for a review of recent market activity, and learn the impact of new industry regulations and macro-economic changes on annuity product offerings. Covered products include fixed, fixed indexed, variable, income, and structured annuities. At the conclusion of the session, attendees will be able to identify new types of product offerings and trends, determine considerations when evaluating their current product portfolios, and understand the current climate for new annuity product development.

Small employers are, in many ways, a "last horizon" for workplace plan formation — and many of them are being challenged to offer payroll deduct retirement plans to their employees. Learn about the forces and factors at work in this key marketplace.

Advisors’ practices are constantly shaped by both internal and external dynamics. These forces cause advisors to remold their practice models and upgrade their value propositions to clients. Organizations serving advisors must effectively align their products and services to explore and engage with desired advisor segments. This session will share early findings from the LIMRA-Ernst & Young advisor study on evolving advisory practice models regarding retirement, the drivers of productivity, and the services and support advisors demand from their organizational partners.

KERRY MCMULLAN, Head of Sales and Client Development, Life and Health, U.S., Swiss Re; DOMENICO SAVARESE, Global Head of Life and Health Products Strategy, Swiss Re

Did you know that in the U.S., insurance makes up just 11% of the total amount needed to fund aging people's needs? To make our solutions more relevant to seniors, we need to better understand their widely varying needs and how they make decisions. Learn about better ways to segment the market, how to build winning solutions and what will make products more likely to be purchased. Leave with insights and fresh ideas from Swiss Re's consumer research.

RIA’s and annuities may be an unlikely pairing, but it can be an effective one. With continued growth in the RIA channel and movement to fee-based models, there is an opportunity in this market. RIA’s themselves will discuss how annuities can complement solutions offered to clients, and panelists from various aspects of the RIA channel will share how annuity providers should (and should not) approach this growing market.

Consultant influence on plan sponsor actions is clear. Understanding how retirement plan consultants view the retirement industry today and where they see significant change, is essential for retirement service providers of all types. Hear a candid, practical discussion with thought leaders in retirement consulting, which could well shape your thinking in 2018.

Insurtech is changing the insurance industry with new perspectives, technologies and customer-centric approaches to doing business. This session will highlight some of the entrepreneurs bringing exciting new innovations to the aging and retirement space. They will provide backgrounds on their businesses, perspectives on partnering with established companies and their outlooks on the future opportunities in this space.

The Retirement Industry: What Role Will You Play In the Future?

Maria Ferrante-Schepis

President

Maddock Douglas, Inc.

It's no surprise to those of us in the financial services industry that the retirement industry is rapidly changing in many ways. Common themes include longevity, technology, regulation and the economy. However, the bigger questions involve identifying the ways those factors will impact our business and steps we can take to shape our role in the future. Maria Ferrante-Schepis will offer her perspective on how to answer those questions for the industry and more specifically for your company. Her intention is to help you find your unique and ownable corner of the industry among an abundance of opportunities to innovate, grow, and serve current and new customers.

Inside Washington: The Policy and Politics of Financial Services

Tom Crawford

Senior Managing Director,
Strategic Communications

FTI Consulting

Come hear a Washington insider’s view on the new political landscape and its effects on the retirement industry. With expertise in corporate governance, retirement security, and tax policy, Crawford will discuss how government, public policy, markets and globalism have converged to impact everyday Americans and financial services consumers.

(1.2 EA Non-Core Credit Hours)We are living longer and
spending more time in retirement that ever before. According to the Society of
Actuaries Longevity Illustrator, for a 65 year old couple in average health,
there is a 50% chance that one will live until 90 years old. Great-West
Financial is collaborating with the Stanford Center on Longevity to bring you
research and data on how to incorporate longevity planning into the way we do
business. Specifically, we will present the three tenants of long life- mind,
mobility, and money with an emphasis on how retirement income strategies can
fit into clients’ portfolios.

Asia is going through a rapid demographic transition. Not only is its population aging, it is aging at a speed never seen before. LIMRA-SOA jointly commissioned an Asia wide research to study the current state and future opportunity of the retirement markets in Asia. Attendees will hear the products features consumers have identified in the study, providing insight for our Industry to help address the looming retirement funding (public and private) gap. One size does not fit all, the right products, for the right products segment, through the right channels will also be unveiled.

(1.2 EA Non-Core Credit Hours)Hear an update on ERISA litigation in the 401(k) and 403(b) worlds. Attorneys will discuss both the status of existing situations and best practices to consider in avoiding litigation in the first place.

NICK HALEN, Director, New York Life Insurance Company; CLAUDEL LAGUERRE, FSA, CFA, Director, New York Life Insurance Company;

While the media focuses on the lack of retirement preparedness of Americans, another significant issue is brewing — many affluent retirees are not spending down their portfolios, and are unnecessarily constraining spending to the point where they are living well below their means. Our industry needs to do a better job aiding these retirees and helping fight this other retirement crisis. Attend this session to learn about what might be causing this behavior, the role behavioral biases may play, and what products and solutions advisors can utilize to help retirees confidently spend more and improve their quality of life.

(SOA Professionalism Session)This session will discuss three important actuarial standards of practice (ASOP) exposure drafts titled: Pricing of Life Insurance and Annuity Products; Modeling; and Setting Assumptions; recently proposed by the Actuarial Standards Board. Focused topics of discussion will address what these newly proposed ASOPs mean for the actuary. At the conclusion of the session, attendees will understand the overview of these ASOPs, identify opportunities to implement newly proposed guidance in their organizations; and evaluate their own pricing, models and assumption setting processes to determine if there are existing processes that would benefit from improvement.

(1.2 EA Non-Core Credit Hours)Annuity placements are an increasingly attractive and popular form of pension de-risking. This session overviews the annuity placement process from the perspectives of both the plan sponsor and annuity provider with panelists from both areas. Drawing on recent case studies and current trends, the session will cover a wide range of issues that are impacting annuity placements including data, mortality, state of issue, benefit types, transition, contract structures such as ‘split deals’, assets in kind and other investment considerations.

Government market specialists examine the current state of government DC and discuss any changes they expect to see in the market over the next few years.

Connect with Key Prospects

This conference is your opportunity to meet and network with professionals from all areas of the retirement industry, including those involved in the product development, marketing, and distribution of individual annuity and retirement income products, and defined contribution and defined benefit retirement plans.

A limit of one additional attendee per booth will receive the member rate of $1,250 each, by March 12, 2018 or $1,450 after that date

One-time use mailing list (Your choice: three weeks prior to or three weeks following the event)

Listing in the Conference Brochure (payment must be received by November 10, 2018 to be included)

Listing on the conference organizers websites and mobile app

Listing in the On-site Program; contract and payment MUST be received by February 26, 2018

EXHIBIT REGISTRATION FEE:

After February 24, 2017 – Exhibit Space $5,000

Organizations exhibiting at the Retirement Industry Conference may also exhibit at the Life Insurance Conference being held just prior (April 24-26) at the same hotel and receive a discount of $500 off each event. If you are Exhibiting at both, please use this PROMO CODE (BOTH18) when registering for both events.

If you receive any unsolicited or suspicious email or phone call about a hotel booking in conjunction with this meeting, our advice is not to click on it, but delete the email immediately. In the case of a phone call, never give out your credit card information. Our designated conference hotels will never call you unless you contact them first.

Make your reservations by March 12, 2018 in order to receive the group rate of $269.00 single/double (plus applicable sales taxes). Requests afterMarch 12 will be accepted on the basis of rate and space availability.

As a reminder, the hotel rates will increase after the cut-off date or when the meeting room block sells out, whichever comes first. Make your reservations early to be able to receive our discounted rates.